Software applications utilize messaging to exchange information with other applications. Messaging generally simplifies communication across different programming environments, since applications in each environment need only understand a common messaging format and protocol. Messaging platforms typically employ a messaging server or controller to handle the formal exchange of event notification, requests, or replies between applications.
Messaging platforms exist for all types of software applications. Among these application types are the growing number of Web-based applications, which allow users to interact with applications from across a network at the frontend via their Web browsers, instead of through traditional standalone application GUIs or client/server application GUIs.
Within such Web-based applications, while it is relatively straightforward for a Web browser session to pass messages to a backend application over the Internet using the HTTP protocol, the same cannot be said for passing messages from the backend to the Web browser session because Web browsers cannot be directly addressed by HTTP requests. As a result, developers of Web-based applications rely on messaging platforms such as the Java Message Service (JMS), which is a messaging standard API that allows application components based on the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) to create, send, receive, and read messages. Messaging vendors implementing the JMS API typically utilize socket connections to pass messages from the backend application to the Web browser.
Unfortunately, addressing socket connections is more complex than addressing HTTP requests, and many socket connections become lost and do not provide an adequate level of security. Additionally, utilizing such connections through the JMS requires the installation of new or updated J2EE solutions and/or the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a more straightforward and secure system and method for passing messages to a Web browser.